U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,987, issued to Laughlin, entitled FTIR Modulator, discloses an apparatus that employs FTIR to modulate and switch beams of light or optical signals. U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,987 is incorporated by reference for all purposes herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,987, discloses a method of developing frustrated total internal reflection by moving two surfaces into and out of contact with one another. To achieve total frustration of total internal reflection contact of two surfaces must be made. Once these surfaces are brought into contact an electrostatic "bond" is formed between the surfaces. To later separate the surfaces requires breaking the electrostatic bond. Overcoming the bond may add to the difficulty and time required in separating these two surfaces. U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,987 taught a method of bending one the surfaces in one plane to address this problem.
The inventor of the inventions disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,987 has developed several improvements to the FTIR device disclosed therein that are the subject of this present application.